We Have A Two Year Old

Hello Family and Friends! Summer is winding down and days of fall are just about upon us.

My how the last two years have flown by. Below is one of the first pictures we had done with Libby. This one was within the first month she was born.
Now, here are the pictures we just had done as her two year old pictures. WOW, what a change!

We did have a birthday party this year for Libby with family showing up. Cousins Abby and Maddy were very helpful showing Libby what she is suppose to do with presents!

The next picture is Libby patiently awaiting her cake!

Every morning as we are getting ready to go to work/daycare, we have to watch Mickey Mouse. So we had to get a Mickey and Minnie cake for Libby's party.

Libby got a lot of great gifts that are already being used. We actually had to do a little cleaning out of the toy box to make room for the new ones.

In other news, Denise and I were able to get to a Twins game in late July. Target Field is AWESOME. We went with a tour out of Alexandria, which was great as we didn't have to drive or pay for parking. The game went fast, under two hours, and got done just before severe thunderstorms moved in. They would not let our bus leave the parking area until the storm passed.

The view from our seats in the second level down the third base line.

The other major project that got completed was the swing set. What started out as a two weekend project turned into about six. But once we got it boxed in and the mulch laid, it is great. Libby absolutely loves it and it is a pain to try to get her in the house once we start swinging. We were also able to put her sandbox with it, so all her outside stuff is in one area.

Outside of that, the last few weeks have been somewhat uneventful. We did get rid of the money pit known as the minivan and got a lease deal on a Nissan Murano. Denise loves it and the little bit I have driven it, it is very nice. We lost some seating room (6-7 in the van with up to 5 in the Murano), but with the nickel and diming that was starting to happen with the van, it was time to unload. It is Merlot (fancy name for maroon) in color, not our first choice in color, but we were given a very sweet deal to take one off their lot rather that having them go get one in Glacier Pearl (fancy name for white).

Everything else we have been doing had been revolving around getting ready for Baby Boy. We think we are ready for October 6 to roll around, but I am sure we will think of a thing or two between now and then. Denise is going to take the full 12 weeks she is allowed off while I am going to take about a week of full days off and then work half days for about four weeks. Libby will still go to daycare as we don't want to break her routine too much. We did that when Denise's sister and her family were here from DC, and it took quite a while to get her back into it.

That is about all from here. I hope everyone is having a great September and I will definitely update when our family grows, if not before.

Troy, Denise and Libby

A long overdue update.

Hello friends and family! I know....it's been awhile since the last update, but we have been very busy with summer projects. We have to get these all out of the way before "Baby Boy" arrives in October.

Denise is now 26 weeks along and everything is progressing nicely. Her blood pressure so far has stayed down, which didn't happen with Libby and she was put on bedrest. The baby is going to be a big boy by the sounds of things though, as he is measuring around 32 weeks size wise. Technically, the due date is October 14, but yesterday Denise and her OB/GYN set up a scheduled C-Section for October 6. The way the baby is growing though, it may even be a little earlier than that. Libby was about 10 days early and 9lbs 6oz at birth. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go well the rest of the way.

Here are two of the ultrasound pictures. The first one is of the baby's profile and the second one is for Grandma Vicky..... who doesn't believe us that it is a boy!

Onto the summer projects! We started by replacing the boards on our back deck and putting up a railing on it. There were some boards that were starting to crack, so we decided to replace the whole floor with composite decking. Since we were putting a railing on, we didn't want to have to keep taking the railing off in the upcoming years and replacing boards as they cracked. The deck did not have a railing on it before, so it is a lot nicer for Libby to be out on it. She actually likes the railing and looking through it and waving at daddy as he mows the lawn. We also lost our privacy fence on the deck with this work, so we decided to plant three arborvitae trees and make a natural privacy fence.

Up next was a swingset for Libby. We found a cedar one online that has a glider, two swings, a slide, a "fort" tower and a little picnic bench. Its not a Rainbow, didnt have the price tag of a Rainbow, but still nice and adequate. It isn't completly finished yet as the directions are incomplete on attaching the slide. But, it is useable and Libby loves the swing part anyway. Basically, all that is left to do on it is the awnings and the slide. We placed it in a nice shady area in the yard, but we had to build it up with some Class 5 from the driveway since it is one of the lower spots in our yard. We plan on boxing that in and putting a couple of inches of mulch on top of the Class 5 so it is a little softer.

Finally, it was time to redo our driveway, not that our old one was in bad shape. We decided to pour a concrete driveway so that Libby would have somewhere to drive her "wheeled" toys. Our driveway was Class 5 and our cul-de-sac is gravel. It was a lot of work, probably too much for Denise's father, Curtis, and myself (BTW, a big THANK YOU goes out to Curtis for his help). It ended up being a 45 foot by 20 foot slab, five inches thick and reinforced with rebar. Libby absolutely loves it already and it has helped keep our garage a whole lot cleaner.

Our Driveway before "The Project"

Our driveway excavated, formed, rebar laid and ready for the pour.

Curtis and Troy awaiting the concrete. This is when we still had energy.....

Half the driveway is done!

The pour is complete!!!! The concrete kind of got away from us (set up fast), so the brooming didn't quite work.

Of course with all the excavation and pouring, the concrete was higher than the rest of our yard. So we had a load of black dirt delivered to bank up along the driveway and to fill in some of the low spots in our yard. Lets just say that it takes A LOT of wheelbarrows to move 12 yards of black dirt. I didn't think the pile was ever going to end, but after spending most of the day Saturday (we had to break at 5:00 due to tornado warnings) and most of the day Sunday, it got cleaned up and grass seed is planted. Here is what it looks like now! SWEET!!!!

Talking about swing sets, here is Libby enjoying her swing. We usually spend close to an hour a night out there after work, just pushing Libby so she can swing. She LOVES it! Its a fight every night to get her off the swing and back in the house. Alot of coaxing goes on!

Over the July 4th weekend, the Alexandria Airport had an old Bi-plane exhibit, flights and some vintage boats on display. We just had to sit Libby in one and she was driving up a storm! She also had her "ponies" in, which she likes to have in, but then plays with them and they end up falling out after a short period of time.

So, what is on the agenda for the rest of the summer? Well, this Saturday, Denise and I are hopping on a tour here in Alexandria and heading down to a Twins game against Chicago at Target Field. Then, we are planning on having a garage sale so that we can get rid of baby girl stuff and make room for baby boy stuff. After that, it will be time to get things ready for the arrival of "Baby Boy"!

Well, that is about all from here for now. But we will leave you with one more picture of Libby. Here she is in her bathrobe (she calls it a coat?) that Grandma Rosemary made for her. Libby says "Tank-you Gamma!!" I hope everyone has been having a great summer and we will keep you updated as things happen!

Until next time....take care!
Denise, Troy and Libby

Its A Boy!

Good morning everyone and Happy June! Just a quick note here before I get back to work. Denise had her ultrasound last Friday and everything looks great with the baby! We also found out the sex of the baby and it is a BOY! All grandparents were extremely excited, as are we.

Now it is time to sort all the girls clothes out and have a garage sale and shop for boy clothes.

Thanks and we will post more later!

Troy, Denise and Libby

We are happy to announce that the newest addition to the Mills family is scheduled to arrive around October 14! We are very excited and know that Libby will make a super big sister!

At daycare 2 weeks ago they had "baby week". The kids learned about and found pictures of babies. There are pictures of babies from magazines hanging up in the classroom. Every morning when I drop Libby off there...she runs from picture to picture and says "baby". She definetly knows what they are! We were recently on a plane where there was a mom holding a baby sitting behind and across the aisle from us. Libby was SO fascinated with everything this baby was doing. She kept repeating and pointing, baby...baby...baby. I'm sure the 2 men sitting behind us were not to pleased as Libby was standing up in her seat and squealing with excitement!!

April 7-12 we flew down to Texas to visit Grandma and Grandpa Danielson for a few days.

It was so nice to get away and relax! Troy got to do alot of golfing, we went swimming, visited the beaches on South Padre Island, played shuffleboard, sat around and visited, and ate, ate, ate!! Libby got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, which was great!

Libby also spent the week with her favorite animal...puppy (aka Teddy). Actually, she calls everything a puppy right now! She also learned how to yell at Teddy like grandma does.....TED-DEE, TED-DEE!!

We are looking forward to summer, although we have alot of things we want to get done...new floor on back deck and put railings up, build a firepit out of landscape block, build Libby a swingset and sandbox, and poor a concrete driveway. Summer will be over before we know it and then it will be time for baby to arrive!!

Hope everyone is doing well. We'll update as we know more!

Libby LOVED going for rides in the golf cart around the park!!

Chillin' in the hammock swing that Grandma put up

Future WPGA'r????? Daddy hopes so!

First beach experience on South Padre Island

Sportin' a bikini and splashing in the pool

Big Sister!

Yep, thats right!!! We found out yesterday that Libby is going to be a big sister! Not sure on the due date yet, but Denise does have an ultrasound scheduled March 3rd, so we will know more than.

We are excited! Let the planning begin!

February 2010 Already???

Hello family and friends! Sorry it has been so long........

Here it is, 2010, and we are already a month and a half into it. Yikes! Happy belated New Year!!!



Libby continues to keep us busy and it is difficult to get any computer work done while she is awake. She likes to look at the pictures of herself on the "wallpaper" and hit the keys. If you ignore her, well, it doesn't always go over to well. Since today we are snowed in and didn't make it into work, Libby is napping, so I thought I would throw a quick update for all of you.

Libby in now 17 months and has moved from the infant room at daycare to the toddler room. We switched daycare providers as the one we are now with has the daycare contract with the new YMCA being built here in Alexandria, and we really wanted to get Libby in there. We loved the gals at the old daycare infant room, and felt bad changing, but we have been very happy with the toddler staff at the new place. Libby has become much more vocal now that she is around older kids, and will repeat words that she hears. Ball, car, night night, nana, no, good, hi and bye are used quite a bit right now, and she has said please along with several other words occasionally. She LOVES to dance right now, any type of music and any place, she will dance. It is so cute!!! We took her crib down a couple of weeks ago and put the toddler bed in her room. She loves the new bed and like being a "big girl". We have put the "potty chair" in the bathroom, and she like sitting on it, but that is with a diaper on. If we sit her on it before her bath, she is not too sure of her bare bottom falling down through the hole. I guess she is growing up fast....



December 2009 came and went very fast. It started out on a sad note as Troy's grandma on his dad's side (Rosa) passed away at the age of 92. It was a blessing though as she was not living the life she was used to. We miss her but know she is better off. But the month didn't slow down at all. On the weekend before Christmas, Troy's family decided to rent a few rooms at the Holiday Inn here in Alexandria and celebrate Christmas. It worked out very well at Abby and Maddy (Stacy and Dave's twins) and Libby got to swim and run around and play together. The adults even had a great time. Christmas Eve was spent with Denise's parents and Christmas Day with Denise's parents and sister and brother and law (Lisa and Eric) and their two girls, Emily and Anna. Libby, Emily and Anna had a blast together as they were chasing each other and hugging and wrestling in grandma and grandpa's living room.



2010 came in and we made the trip to Browerville to celebrate Christmas with Troy's mom's side of the family. Again, Libby, Abby and Maddy had a blast, along with Mason and Ayden.



Outside of that, it has basically been work that has consumed a lot of our time. Troy's job with PrimeWest continues to be busy and does not look to be slowing down anytime soon. Denise's job with Verizon has gotten busy as well as they are in the middle of a bunch of upgrades right now. This requires her to work several nights over a four week span, but at least she can do it from home. This week is the last week of it, hopefully for a while.........



We have been making it up to Bemidji for Bemidji State Hockey. We thought last year was a wild ride, but this year has been even better. With a 18-6-2 record, they are ranked #5 in the nation right now. It is also the last year for the John Glas Fieldhouse, the home of the Beavers for 43 years. Next year they will be moving into the Bemidji Regional Events Center, a 4500 seat arena, that will have individual seats instead of benches. I KNOW Denise is looking forward to that! We have our "seating assignment" time next Tuesday, and we have a good idea where we would like to sit. Hopefully it all works out.



That is about all from here, I guess. I will leave you with what you want to see anyway, pictures of Libby!!!!

Libby's newest favorite spot, under the chairs in the kitchen!

Libby opening up her CD Player at Christmas.

Libby opening up her Little People Amusement Park

Libby in her Christmas Dress

The great grandkids on Troy's mom's side.

Maddy, Abby and Libby hiding at Christmas in Browerville

Libby and dad checking out the pregame warmups for BSU Hockey.

Yogert is both a food and a hair product!

Libby and dad on Martin Luther King Day 2010 (we took a picture in 2009 as well).

Libby wanted to go snow blow the driveway for dad.

Libby showing dad something under the couch.

One weekend bathroom reno. A new vanity top, a new faucet, along with a mirror and light.

Troy, Denise and Libby!

ummm....latest fashion trend??

Libby cant decide if she wants to go swimming or sledding?

This is where we found her playing...in the cupboard!

She fits perfectly!

It Has Been Awhile....

Hello Friends and family, it has been awhile. I guess I can blame it on being busy, but that isn't the greatest excuse. We have to update more often or else we will forget what has happened!

Since our last post, Libby has continued to grow. Now at almost 14 months, she has gotten this walking thing down pat. She even has figured out how to almost run (I wouldn't call it running yet, but a VERY fast walk). One of the more fun things she likes to do is dance. It started out as bopping to music, but now has moved onto stomping her foot and now this weekend, spinning around and moving her arms. It is really fun to watch and hard not to laugh, even though mom and dad try to join her. She probably thinks we are nuts!

The other thing she has started doing is bringing us a diaper when the one she has on needs to be changed. Is it too early to start potty training????

Denise and I were able to get away for a week. The week of our anniversary, we took a cruise in the Eastern Caribbean. Leaving from Port Canaveral, Florida, we made stops at Cocoa Cay (Bahamas), St. Thomas and St. Maartin on Royal Caribbeans Freedom of the Seas. Let me tell you, I was one that didn't think I would enjoy a cruise, being stuck on a boat and all the other arguments you hear against them. But Denise talked me into it and I LOVED IT! There is just so much to do on the ship that you can do as much or as little as you like. We are already talking about doing it again in a year.

Here are two pictures of our ship, the Freedom of the Seas. Right now, the Freedom class for Royal Caribbean is the largest cruise ship sailing, but in December, Royal Caribbean will break out the Oasis of the Seas. We did have some people tell us that we were starting out our cruising experiences right by going with the biggest and the best right out of port.

Here is the sign to Coco Cay, Royal Caribbeans private stop in the Bahamas. We decided to just rent some beach mats and lounge around on the beach an in the water. Unfortunately, I forgot to upload a picture of the actual island......

After a day at sea, our next stop was St. Thomas, where we decided to take an island tour with one of the local guides. We got to see the WHOLE island, the rich and high points along with the poor and low points. It is kind of amazing that there can be such a huge disparity on such a small piece of land. In the picture below, we are at an overlook that has Magen's Bay behind us (one of the top 10 beaches in the world).

The next day was a stop at St. Maartin, where we decided to take part in the America's Cup sailing regatta. There were 30 of us from the ship that were divided up into two team and we raced actual multi-million dollar boats that have participated in the America's Cup races. Our team ended up on True North from Canada, while the other team was on Stars and Stripes from the US. After a quick tutorial by our captain and his two helpers, we raced, and the Great White North prevailed! I was a grinder on the boat, while Denise was a relief grinder, and it was a workout. My shoulders were a little stiff the next day.

After two days at sea to get back to Port Canaveral, it was back to Minnesota and to Libby, who spent the week with Grandpa and Grandma Danielson.

So, enough about us, back to Libby. Below are some pictures of her in her Halloween Costume. We decided to take her outside and put her with one of the leaf piles and a pumpkin!

A couple of weekends ago, we made a quick little trip up to Fargo and on the way home, we decided to stop at a farm with a corn maze, pumpkin patch and petting zoo. Well, we pick a horrible day to stop as it was cold and rainy. And since it had been raining off and on for a couple of weeks now, that Red River Valley soil was very soupy. We did get a few pictures though.

Libby on a hay bale.

Libby petting "Baby Davy" the cow.

Libby looking at the goat, who looks like she wants Libby's stroller. Libby loved petting the goat and having her nibble at her hand.

And here is proof that Libby is not always the little angel that we like to make her out to be! One day at daycare, they decided to put her hair in "pig tails". Not only do we have the three that you can see, but there was one in the back also.

Both our jobs continue to go very well. Last week Denise had to spend three days in Denver doing some hardware upgrades to the network out there. This week, she will spend three day in Golden Valley, MN, doing the same upgrades as those two sites are paired together. Even though she is gone for a few days, it bodes very well for her future as this part of the network will be hers to watch over once she is fully trained. Her mentor keeps giving her more and more responsibility and she is loving it, finally having something to do again. And Libby survives very well, taking care of dad while mom is gone!

Well, that is about all from here for now. We will try to update a little more frequently here in the future. Until next time......

Troy, Denise and Elizabeth

We Have a Walker!

Wow, two posts in one week.....

Just a quick update for all the Libby fans out there that Libby took her first unassisted steps today. It was kind of humorous as I don't think she realized what she was doing. Some of the Sunday newspaper was on the floor and she figured out that she could make noise by stomping on it. Well, a stomp with one foot lead to a stomp with the other foot and so on until she had taken six to eight steps. It was once mom and dad reacted that she fell to the floor on her bottom. Denise and I then sat on the floor about ten feet apart and she proceeded to walk unassisted between us. One year and four days old!

Up next, serious baby proofing to do.......